His policy in Northern Ireland, though a settlement has proved elusive, maintains the peace, which is no small accomplishment. His handling of Europe has, with a few exceptions, proved sure-footed. He has followed through on devolution, though we have yet to see how willing he will prove to cede control behind the scenes His approach to welfare reform seems generally sound. But any review of the comparative successes of his first two years must now be overshadowed by the way he has propelled the country into what may prove its greatest foreign policy blunder since Suez.Mr Blair has been a hawk among the Western leaders. Bill Clinton has constantly cast one eye back to a reluctant Congress, and an American public among which what little support there ever was for ground troops has fallen away. The German Chancellor has hesitated too, as public opinion becomes increasingly hostile to the bombing.
Only Mr Blair's hawkishness seems to have increased as the conflict has progressed. The day before the embassy bombs fell his vocabulary got even stronger; he made repeated comparisons to "Hitler's evil regime" and talked of Victory in Europe Day and the challenge our parents' generation faced. He could not, he later said, see a future for Serbia under Milosevic - against whom he said there was "serious evidence" of war crimes. "I'm not sitting down and dealing with Milosevic," he added.All this is an unwarranted gamble. Important differences of detail remained unresolved in the G8's document of "seven agreed principles". It is possible of course that Milosevic might back down; if so it will probably be Russian diplomacy which is accorded the success. A second option is that Milosevic might remain defiant, deciding like Saddam Hussein, that a military defeat could bring him domestic political victory; for the hawks of Nato that might secure the reverse - military victory but political defeat Most likely now is some kind of fudge.
That's where we are after six weeks of bombing, God knows how many deaths and the creation of almost a million refugees. The war should never have been launched, as we have argued from the start. Serbia, of course, cannot win in all this, but it is not inconceivable that the hawks of Nato, Mr Blair foremost among them, might yet lose.. THE SEVENTH World Cup is being heavily promoted as a Carnival of Cricket. It would be splendid if it could approach those giddy heights but the overriding priority from England's point of view is that it does not become a requiem. Everybody with an interest in the game in this country has repeatedly emphasised the importance of the tournament to the future Their sentiments are not misplaced. If the World Cup is a success, then cricket could be revived for a generation; if it fails, the sport, at least as part of the national round, may wither. By success is meant significant progress in the competition for England.
It is reckoned that anything less than a semi-final place, which would take them to the final week, would represent failure. Actually, this may prove not to be so.The way England play will be quite as influential as the advances they make. It would be wretched were they to fall at the first group stage - eminently possible - but what the wider public will warm to above all else is a series of dashing, cavalier exhibitions in which the team give the impression of enjoying their work. There have been brief periods in the three years since the last World Cup when they have been smiling in the sunny uplands, but more often they have been scowling in the dark.How the England and Wales Cricket Board must pray that their players do not let them down.
